LOL!
Linda, I was just going to post a link to the Michael of Rhodes example, and then I decided to read the thread before posting and there it is.
Yes, I think it is important to include examples of how text without diagrams was also very much part of how they recorded this kind of information.
In connection to this...
I spent a lot of time reading medieval itineraries, (which were frequently used to "map" land journeys). It's fascinating to see how people's perceptions of how to get from one A to B were written down.
Some of them are so detailed that they are like small books (not as long as the VMS, but still quite a few pages). They are written point-by-point in a way similar to the Michael Rhodes text, and would fit quite naturally as companion material to the portolans. They are usually recorded as a long list of short paragraphs.
The "Three itineraries of Bartolomeo Fontana" kept me reading for hours. Even though it is 16th century, it gives a great deal of insight into foot travel as it was in the 15th century. It has all the major stops and then goes into detail about each of the "minor" stops in each of the major stops. And what is REALLY interesting about it is that it mentions many of the stops (places to stay) that one would never know about from just looking at a map (e.g, small monasteries where one could stay overnight like in a hostel). I was absolutely fascinated by how it encapsulates a walking trip of northern Italy.
Linda, I was just going to post a link to the Michael of Rhodes example, and then I decided to read the thread before posting and there it is.
Yes, I think it is important to include examples of how text without diagrams was also very much part of how they recorded this kind of information.
In connection to this...
I spent a lot of time reading medieval itineraries, (which were frequently used to "map" land journeys). It's fascinating to see how people's perceptions of how to get from one A to B were written down.
Some of them are so detailed that they are like small books (not as long as the VMS, but still quite a few pages). They are written point-by-point in a way similar to the Michael Rhodes text, and would fit quite naturally as companion material to the portolans. They are usually recorded as a long list of short paragraphs.
The "Three itineraries of Bartolomeo Fontana" kept me reading for hours. Even though it is 16th century, it gives a great deal of insight into foot travel as it was in the 15th century. It has all the major stops and then goes into detail about each of the "minor" stops in each of the major stops. And what is REALLY interesting about it is that it mentions many of the stops (places to stay) that one would never know about from just looking at a map (e.g, small monasteries where one could stay overnight like in a hostel). I was absolutely fascinated by how it encapsulates a walking trip of northern Italy.